After Logan
by BeaconMineshaftII
Summary: Takes place almost a decade after the events of Logan. From the first-person perspective of X-23/Laura Kinney. She and her friends/family have made it to Eden. Now it's their goal to help the other young mutants showing up from Transigen make it to Eden in once piece. Mature rating for future language/violence. **Contains spoilers for the movie!**
1. Chapter 1

Nobody really rests in Eden. We're always worrying about the next wave of mutants. And what the Weapon X project is coming up with next. Sometimes some of us forget and can pretend that all of this is normal. Just like Charles Xavier and Magneto had dreamed of at one point. And what my father had spent his whole life running from.

I sat in the windowsill, looking down on the small town that had been built beyond the border in Canada. Things were less stressful here. And the government wasn't trying to kill us. But the Reavers still find us sometimes. We're always ready for them, though. A small team of us have made it our duty to keep the walls of this place standing for as long as we can. Hopefully forever.

Realistically, I know that that's probably not possible. Xavier tried. And failed. So did Magneto. All of the heroes and villains we've looked up to have come and gone. I don't think any of the X-Men are alive any more. Every so often, someone will be convinced that they see my father. He's like Elvis. People just can't accept that he died. Sometimes I find myself hoping that he's really alive. That his body just took longer than normal to heal. But I know that that's not the case. I was holding him when he died. You can't come back from death any more. That died with Jean Grey. We still hear rumors of her being alive. And it might be her face and her body, but I doubt that Jean still exists any more. If she did, she'd be here. Protecting young mutants was always one thing she strived for.

"There you are," Rebecca sighed, interrupting my thoughts. I looked away from the window back to my slender blonde friend. "You're supposed to be sleeping, you know. You aren't on watch right now."

"I was just thinking," I shrugged, returning my attention to the new group of young mutants that had made it here. They looked terrified and shaken. I wished, again, that I could be one of the runners that helped bring them here. That was deemed too dangerous by the people running the camp, however. They were very firmly in favor of being a safe haven as long as refugees could make it here alive. If not, it wasn't their problem. I found myself thinking of James Howlett again. My father. We wouldn't have made it here without him. We would have been rounded up and killed without remorse. I wonder who their James was. Who they lost to make it here.

"Bad day, huh?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Rictor sent me to find you, actually." I turned my full attention to her. She smirked slightly, amused at how that had quickly changed my mood. "He wants to take you with him on the next run."

I sat up a little straighter. "Are you serious?"

"Very. You, Bobby, Richelle, and I were chosen to go with him."

"That's a decent line-up," I said thoughtfully. Rebecca has the elemental power of frost. Bobby's is electricity. Rictor can manipulate rocks or anything rock-like-such as cement. Richelle can control plants. And I'm impervious to damage for the most part. I instantaneously heal. This also allows me to use the bones in my hands and feet as "claws," which the scientists at Transigen so graciously coated in adamantium. Just like Wolverine.

"We can all handle ourselves. Now, why don't you get some sleep? You have watch in like five hours. We're running our first mission in a few days. It doesn't do anybody any good to have you taking on too much and running on too little."

"I know, I know."

"Good." She stood with a smile and left my room, closing the door behind her. I stood, stretched, and realized just how tired I actually was. Maybe I did actually need some sleep.

As I laid down on my bed, I remembered the last night I saw Xavier. I had refused to sleep on the bed with him. I hadn't wanted to disturb him. He had looked so fragile as Logan carried him up the stairs. I was afraid he might break if I had a nightmare and lashed out. That was something I couldn't have lived with. He had shown me kindness. Just like Gabriella. If only I had realized that X-24 wasn't Logan. I should have smelled it. He was healthy. Father wasn't. It should have been easy to detect. But I was so tired. And I felt so safe there in that house with Nate's iPod.

As soon as I smelled the blood, I screamed. I shouldn't have screamed. Nate came over to help, just armed with a baseball bat. X-24 may have looked like Dad, but he wasn't my father at all. He was just pure, undiluted rage. His only purpose was to destroy everything that stood in his way-or everything that Transigen told him stood in his way. It was like he didn't have a soul. That was a thing that other people have always said about clones that I never understood until that night. Watching him murder a broken, dying man without even flinching is one of the worst things that I've ever witnessed. He would never know what it was like living with a killing. He would never know how much it branded you.

I pulled my knees up to my chest, hugging them. I hadn't understood what Dad meant then. I had thought that I would be fine, that it wouldn't bother me. But all of those men that I killed, I killed them for survival. For my family and I. For Logan. They had probably had families, too. They were never going to go back home. They could never make better lives for themselves. Or make themselves into better people.

" _Don't be what they made you."_

It was the last thing Dad ever said to me. And I think about that every day. It's so easy to be what everybody wants you to be. It's much harder to be what you want to be. I know he struggled with that. In the end, Wolverine always did the right thing. But James was never sure that it was right. I understand that now. I didn't when I had met him. I wish that we had had more time together. But I feel closer to him now than I did when he died. I understand him more.

And I want to make him proud of me.

My slender fingers wrapped around his dog tags and ring that I always wore around my neck. I took them from his body when we were burying him. Something to remember him by. To remember that part of myself. I would need it when we leave Eden. It's been almost eight years since we escaped. I'm sure that the world has changed a lot since then. And probably not in the way that any of us would want.

I fell asleep with my knees up to my chest and my thumb running over Logan's name. I won't be what they made me, but I can be what you made me.


	2. Chapter 2

The next few days went by quickly. Mostly, I think we were just trying to keep busy. Richelle, Rebecca, and Bobby all seemed nervous. That was understandable. The only act of violence they had ever really shown had been against Pierce. And that had been more like revenge than anything.

"Laura," Richelle called. "Are you ready? Rictor is getting everyone together."

"I thought we were leaving at dawn," I replied, furrowing my brows at her and referring to the fact that it was in the middle of the night. She shrugged.

"I think he's anxious to leave. We all are."

"Yeah, I just have to grab my backpack." She nodded.

"Don't forget to leave room for your care pack. The kitchen is making sure we have enough food and the infirmary is giving us bandages," she paused and then laughed. "Actually, I dunno if you'll have one of those. You don't really need that stuff."

Now it was my turn to shrug. "Who knows. None of us have really been on a mission like this before."

"Rictor has."

I shook my head. "This feels different. Rictor always waits until he's supposed to leave if it's a normal run. This feels bigger than that."

"How can it be any bigger than what it is?"

"Just call it a hunch." The last time that I had felt uneasiness like this was when we had all escaped from Transigen. So many of us had died-and so many of the nurses. I shook my head to clear away those thoughts. Richelle had been watching me the entire time, a worried sadness in her dark eyes. She handed me my backpack as a silent reminder that we had to leave. I slung it over my shoulder and followed her out into the hallway.

It was so late that there were a few stray lights on seeping out underneath the doors while the rest were entirely dark. We went quietly down the hallway, careful to avoid any creaky floorboards so as not to disturb the slumbering occupants around us. The building we slept in wasn't very large so it didn't take us very long to be outside in the crisp Canadian air.

Rictor, Bobby, and Rebecca were waiting for us underneath the big oak tree in the center of the town square. I immediately noticed how tense Rictor was. I could smell it. And it raised the hairs on my arms. Rebecca noticed my expression and traded a look with Richelle.

"Alright, let's get going," Rictor nodded, handing Richelle and I supply packs to put in our bags. None of us moved.

"What's going on, Rictor?" Richelle asked. "We have a human lie detector, remember? Everyone seems to have left some things out."

"I'll explain on the way."

"No," Rebecca countered. "This is supposed to be a team. So treat us like one." A look of guilt crossed his face.

"Just-come with me, okay? I promise I'll explain everything. We just can't be here." He glanced around. I followed his gaze, noticing people I hadn't noticed before. With a sharp nod, I walked by him. The others followed with mixed expressions of irritation, curiosity, and fear. Though I guess that that last emotion never really disappears from anyone's face around here.

"Alright, speak," I told Rictor, coming to a halt. We were safely five miles away from Eden and dawn was beginning to break. The birds were beginning to sing. We stared at him, waiting, as he looked around. Finally accepting that we were alone, he nodded.

"Recently, there have been some rumors of a new Transigen. We've done pretty well with taking out their facilities and rescuing the new mutants every time they manage to get going again. But this one is bigger. And worse," he sighed. "They aren't very far along according to my sources. But they're getting close enough to start training the prototypes. At least, the ones they're making from scratch."

"They're capturing the few existing mutants, aren't they?" Bobby asked, a frown crossing his face.

"Yeah. They seem to have found Stryker's research."

"They've rebooted the original Weapon X program," I said sadly. Rictor nodded. "That's fucked up." I fought the lump in my throat. Dad would hate this. He'd want to go in there and rip everything apart. I clenched my fist, anger replacing sadness. "Then let's go change their mind."

My friends nodded, each putting a hand on my back in comfort. This was going to be complicated...and painful. I clenched the dogtags around my neck.

They aren't going to get away with this again. I'm going to make sure of it.

"Where to?" Richelle asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Alberta. It's about a week and a half away on foot."

"Then let's get going," Rebecca grinned, re-shouldering her pack. We picked up our gear again and continued in silence. No wonder Eden wanted to keep this quiet. This would cause a mass panic among the few civilians there. Not to mention the children. Most of them finally felt safe. It was our job to ensure that they still felt safe. I'll make sure of it. We all will.


End file.
